Madison Shumway

Staff Writer

After pushing through pain for years, Kylie Hutchison needed a break from competitive running.

What began as persistent nerve pain formed into a mystery injury, and progressed into numbness in both her legs. Though running was both a talent and a passion, over time Hutchison found it difficult to continue.

“When I first thought about not competing, it was the hardest thing ever,” Hutchison said. “I gave five years of my life to this sport at ISU and it was everything to me. Knowing that I wasn’t going to be competing was really, really hard for me to accept at first.”

Hutchison’s up-and-down journey to recovery began in her sophomore year during the steeplechase event near the end of the season where she injured her back.

The diagnosis was an annular tear; an injury which involves fibers in the intervertebral disc tearing and can take 18 months or more to heal, sometimes requiring surgery.

“It’s a really long recovery,” said the sixth-year pharmacy student, “but not competing, I’m able to just take care of it and see if it’s going to heal itself.”

After recovering for a year, Hutchison made a comeback during her fourth season.

Since she’d lost a season of cross country and indoor and outdoor track, she applied for a medical hardship waiver, also known as a medical redshirt. 

The waiver extends an athlete’s eligibility for another season due to an injury.

With already one redshirt to her record, the medical redshirt would extend Hutchison’s eligibility to six years.

The process was stressful, Hutchison said, and for over a year she had no idea whether she’d get the waiver or not.

The verdict came only weeks before the start of the cross country season, she hadn’t been granted the redshirt.

By the time the decision came, Hutchison said, the rejected request was a confirmation of a decision she’d already made.

“At that point, I kind of had already accepted that fate. I was trying to train all summer and it was not going well … I had already made the decision myself [that] if I even received the medical waiver, I wasn’t going to use it.”

Though the outcome wasn’t what the team had hoped for, it didn’t come as a shock, said cross country coach Nate Houle. “We saw the writing on the wall to a degree. It wasn’t like we were blindsided by this.”

But the team still had to adapt. Hutchison consistently earned the cross country team two or three points a race, an invaluable asset in a sport that requires the fewest points possible to win.

“Being that it’s not an x’s and o’s sport so much, where we’re not based around necessarily one athlete,” Houle said. “We don’t have to necessarily shift our game plan.” Instead, Hutchison’s injury compelled other teammates to take a leadership role.

Presli Hutchison, Kylie’s sister and teammate, agreed.

Losing the team’s “number one girl” was difficult, she said. “Obviously, you have to adapt to that. People have to step up.”

But the team hasn’t lost Kylie Hutchison. She’s now an acting assistant coach.

“She’s always kind of been a role model, a coach to me,” her sister said. “I could always go to her to ask about miles, or what I should be doing, or injuries, because she’s experienced it a lot. Now that she’s a coach, everybody else can have that too.”

Hutchison’s presence as a coach has helped create a bridge between the women’s team and himself, Houle said. “Teammates are often more comfortable speaking to Kylie about their concerns, and her first-hand experiences enable her to give good advice.”

As for Hutchison, she said the position has eased her transition. She still gets to be involved with running and can work at her own pace.

“I can just do what I want to do but still be a part of it,” she said.

Her academic goals have also helped her through the difficulties of putting her competitive running career on hold.

The pharmacy program keeps her busy, and the health aspects of pharmacy connect her to those of the sports she loves.

What she learns in school lets her help her teammates, she said and so does her unique perspective gained from her injuries and over a decade of running.

“I’m still part of it. I’m still here,” Hutchison said. “If I can’t [run], I want to help other people do it.”